With All Best Wishes
by Nancy Brown
Summary: "This is one of the four days you have listed as your birthday in your official record." JxI


Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys, Alice  
Spoilers: Through COE, characters only  
AN: Written for the completely not official August 19 Birthday Challenge, and fills Trope Bingo square: meeting the family

* * *

"No joy on the Weevil sighting," Jack said into his comm. "I'm coming back in."

_"Roger that,"_ Gwen replied.

Ianto broke in over the channel. _"Jack, would you please drop by the dry cleaner's shop on Crwys Road? Your shirts should be ready for pick-up."_

Jack hesitated. Laundry wasn't on his normal list of chores. He nearly made a crack about that being Ianto's job but the joke died in his throat. They were all taking on extra work these days.

"Fine."

_"Thanks. That will save me a trip. See you soon."_

Jack swung the car around to get to the shop, one of the six Ianto frequented. He had a system, he claimed, in order to keep the worst of the bloodstains, excreta, and extraneous ichors from raising eyebrows at any one establishment. Three days ago when he'd dropped off this bundle, he'd said he was considering going down to four cleaners. They had less laundry now.

Jack forced himself through a smile and a flirt with the pretty woman behind the counter, then tossed his neatly-wrapped shirts carelessly onto the seat beside him.

Gwen spoke to him over the comm. _"Jack, would you be a love and go by my flat? I left my shoes."_

"Your shoes."

_"The trainers by the front door. I came in wearing heels because of how long these trousers are, but I meant to bring the trainers in case we had trouble."_

The new house she and Rhys had bought was along his way back. It wouldn't be difficult to stop and pick up her shoes, but he balked at the look of the thing. "Gwen..."

_"Please?"_

"All right."

He used his spare key to open their door. Rhys had once questioned him about the spare keys Jack had to everyone's flats, and in a rare fit of camaraderie, Jack had shown him the duplicator. It could only copy metal items of a very small size, which meant Jack had exact replicas of keys, rings, studs, and to his surprise, one Prince Albert piercing.

Trainers retrieved, Jack got back into the car.

His mobile rang. He frowned as he saw the number. He flipped it open. "Alice?"

"Are you busy?" This was their code of long use. She'd ask the same whether he was ankle-deep in alien guts, neck-deep in political manoeuvring, or balls-deep in someone attractive.

"Driving. I'm not working at the moment." This was the return code, in case someone was listening in on her end. The few times he let himself think about it, Jack mused they could have very nearly normal conversations. But only nearly. "What's going on?"

She sighed. "Steven's said he'd like you over for dinner. And I wouldn't find it abhorrent. If you're busy, that's fine."

Then there were the rare times their conversations honestly were normal. He wrapped his hand around the mobile, pausing to savour the moment.

"Let me see how my schedule goes today. I can't make any promises. What time?" He was free, just about. The Rift looked to be quiet today and tomorrow. His two big questions were, what excuse did he give to Ianto why he was busy tonight, and did he really want to spend the evening getting blamed for Alice's childhood?

"Seven-thirty. Don't feel obligated." The comment was double-barbed like a fish hook. She could mean she didn't want him there and expected him to know that, but she'd called because Steven stood next to her pleading. She could mean she did want him to come to dinner, but that she expected that, much like half her teen years and every graduation, performance or ceremony a normal parent would attend, Jack would be too busy.

"Tell him I'll try to make it."

"Fine." She rang off without saying goodbye, but they always did. She'd learned by the time she could walk that Jack didn't do endearments, not when he thought they could be heard. There were reasons she blamed him for all the problems of her childhood.

He tossed the phone down for the rest of his drive, getting back to the Hub after fifteen more minutes of crawling traffic. He left the shirts in the car, then had to go back and fetch Gwen's shoes because God forbid she not be able to trot at his side as they ran head first into trouble, and at that point he may as well bring in the shirts.

Annoyed and tired, Jack stomped down the back stairway and to the cogwheel door, which rolled open with barely a sound. Ever since the Dalek invasion, they'd never bothered fixing the alarm. He missed the noise, but more he missed the extra warning.

The Hub was dark, with only the background lights of the computer systems keeping watch. Normally the motion sensors would kick the overhead lights on, or else the team members would click on the proper lights should they be sitting in front of a screen for a long time and not want to be drenched in darkness. He couldn't count the number of evenings he'd come out of his office to find Toshiko sitting in the dark, face alight with the glow of her screen. Stepping through the dimness, Jack half-expected to find her there now. Some nights, he half-expected to see Harriet, or Rhydian. This sorrow would pass.

"Hey," he said, loud enough to carry. No answer. Had Ianto and Gwen been called out? They would have contacted him. They should have contacted him. They wouldn't have gone home this early. Popped out early for lunch? Up in the Tourist Centre frightening the locals?

He tapped his ear. "Gwen. Ianto. Something you forgot to tell me about?" He was greeted with silence.

Fear hastened his steps. He dropped Gwen's shoes at her desk and jogged to his office. The door was closed, the blinds were shut, and he thought he saw a soft light flickering. His mouth went dry.

The Rift ran right through here. When the Rift Manipulator was first built, they'd called up the damn thing right in the centre of the Hub. Three good people had vanished. Friends. Names he was already forgetting just as he was forgetting the way Owen's face had looked, concentrating on an opened body.

He opened his office door with a bang, and as he'd feared, the office was empty.

Almost.

On his desk, a small round cake sat, one candle burned halfway down. Jack frowned. "What the hell?"

From out in the main Hub, he heard multiple voices shouting, "Surprise!" He stuck his head out, still frowning. Ianto, Gwen, and Rhys appeared from the corridor down to the firing range.

Recomposing himself, Jack stepped out. "Something I missed?"

Gwen reached him first. To his shock, she tiptoed up and kissed him on the cheek. "We've decided it's your birthday." Rhys shook his hand. Ianto hung back with that expression Jack knew meant, 'Later.'

"Forgive me if I say, huh?"

Ianto said, "This is one of the four days you have listed as your birthday in your official record." He gave Jack a quick, tight smile. "We hid over here in case you shot someone when you were startled."

"The last one was that day when those Kalindi came through. We had to scrap the plan," Gwen said.

Rhys said, "You gonna blow that candle out, mate?"

He didn't know what to say. He stepped back into the office, where the candle had burned almost to the top of the cake. No time left for wishes. He blew, and was greeted with their attempt at enthusiastic applause when the flame winked out.

"Thanks." He wasn't sure how to handle this. "I don't really do birthdays." The calendar here didn't match the one he'd used back home. Birthdays brought up bad memories, and enough of those had been unearthed to last him another two centuries. "Couldn't find enough candles for the cake?"

"Fire hazard," Ianto said. He started cutting into the cake, and shoved a plate into Jack's hands with a large slab of cream-filled cake. "There's a card from Martha. She said her parents signed, too."

Gwen added, "She also said don't open the one from her sister until you're alone, but Martha didn't know if it was embarrassing or explosive."

"Oh." He set down the plate. "Guys, it's not that I don't appreciate the effort. I do. I don't understand why."

Rhys swiped the second piece of cake. "What's to understand? It's cake. Smile. Pretend it's your birthday, and skip the jokes about birthday spankings."

"Well, now that you bring it up." He grinned.

* * *

The 'party' lasted about half an hour. Jack slid into joke-telling mode, bemoaning the lack of naked people jumping out of his tiny cake and regaling them with the story of his last birthday party, thrown with similar intent by Greg and Llinos way back when.

Rhys checked his watch. "I need to get back. I'm taking a long lunch."

Jack smiled. "Thanks for coming." He made a quick decision. "Gwen, why don't you go with Rhys, take a long lunch break with him?"

"We've got too much to do."

"We don't," Ianto said. "And if we do, we can call."

"But it's your birthday," Gwen said to Jack. "You should take the day."

"I'll take this evening. You go off now, I'll disappear for a while tonight. Fair?"

Deciding it was more than fair, Gwen kissed his cheek again, grabbed her jacket, and walked Rhys out. Ianto had already wrapped the remainder of the cake and started cleaning up the paper plates. Jack gathered the forks.

"Hey," said Jack when they were alone. "Was this your idea?"

Ianto threw the last plate into the bin. "Idea?"

"Cake? Cards? Rhys giving me a jar of wrinkle cream as a gag?"

"Yes." He did that adorably nervous gesture Jack loved, where he shoved his hands into his pockets to keep himself from fidgeting. "You gave Gwen the day off for her birthday. You took me out to that nice restaurant for mine last month. You used to..." He stopped, looking down and away. You used to give Owen and Tosh nice birthdays, he didn't say out loud, but expressed with the slump of his shoulders. "Anyway, you deserved a nice day. You don't get many of those."

"I don't like remembering how old I am."

"I know."

"For most people, it's an accomplishment. For me, it's another reminder."

"I know." Ianto did meet his eyes then. "But some days, you deserve a reminder that the rest of us care about you." He picked up the remnant of the candle, twisting it in his fingers. The wax had solidified in a wide puddle, making it look like a stubby blue umbrella. "For one day, people ought to be nice to you."

Jack thought back on the others' birthdays. Owen kept changing the date in his records to get extra days off. Toshiko had cried when she'd come in to the big bouquet of flowers on her desk. Gwen enjoyed the good wishes, and took the time as extra holiday with Rhys. Ianto's first birthday here had been almost forgotten under a shit-ton of work, but Jack had made an attempt to make the last two something special. He hadn't considered having a day for himself. Birthdays were for the living, to remind them they weren't dead yet.

Jack had other ways to remind himself he was alive, however bitter that reminder. But here were his friends, reminding him he could have the occasional day as a normal person.

"Thank you," he said again, and meant it. Next question: what did normal people do for their birthdays?

"You're welcome." Ianto neatly tied the bin bag and hefted it. "I'll just take this out."

"Ianto?"

"Hm?"

Jack chickened out of his first question. "Who bought the cake?"

"Rhys brought it. Gwen and I thought you liked amaretto. Did we get it wrong?"

"No. You got it just right. Can you not put it away? I want to take it with us tonight."

Ianto tilted his head. "We going back to mine? Because I had this idea about the frosting, but I want to put towels down first."

Jack smiled, loving that mental picture. "Maybe after. First, dinner. If you're not busy, there's someone I'd like you to meet."

* * *

The End


End file.
